Last Commented Health Blogs (952)

...The Broken Heart...Pins in Voodoo dolls, mal de ojo, and other phenomena. Widowhood heart break syndrome. (Trump Derangement-Hilary Deficit Syndrome?) But I digress. Well, most cardiologists aren't convinced. But there is evidence for such. For starters, the poets write, that the seat of much emotion, or at least the destination of these feelings, is some part of the heart. And after all, the organ is chock full of all sorts of important neurological (stretch-volume), and hormonal circuits, long know by science. In some branches of acupuncture, heart meridians are important for emotions, although others, such as liver/lung, may be more so. Everything from factors that measure and respond to blood pressure, etc., and is one important target of output from the Vagus nerve, also known as the wanderer, for all the places it travels, after leaving midbrain regions. Simple surface skin massage of branches of the Vagus can even break some abnormal heart rates. Heart transplant patients sometime claim newer emotions, not unlike the ones who donate the organ. When we experience a severe loss, often in the family, with pets, or in love, while the range of resilience is quite broad here, a small percentage of people can be severely affected, by much more than mere emotional loss and grief. Similar stories during great financial loss, as in the depression. The technical names for this vary, but seem to focus on heart rhythms, although other mechanisms may be involved. Of course, apart from suicide, the two main mechanisms seem to involve changes in heart function that normally resolve in most more resilient folks, but remain longer term in these victims. I've experienced such with such losses a few times in my otherwise lady killer life. My own vote is that the syndrome might be real. Perhaps only a bit less so than that monster, TD-HDS.

Last Sunday we were doing the final cleanup before the house I'm selling appears on the market. Waxing the floor was next on the list, but I left the sponge mop at the condo and didn't want to buy another. No problem... I put on rubber gloves and swabbed the floors with a glossy sealer/wax product using an old towel.
The bad part was the fumes... we wreaked of the stuff and rushed home to shower and change. Already affecting my asthma, I puffed a round of medicine before bed and again in the morning. Monday night brought on raspy throat where everyone thought I had a cold. My voice deepened so I was able to do Sylvester Stallone (Yo Adrian) imitations.
No, I don't have a cold said I as they asked... that's because half the office had passed something around and many were missing a few days at a time.

Things changed on Thursday night with a sore throat coming on and Friday morning it was unbearable requiring a trip to the walk-in clinic down the road from the office.
One person waiting in front if me... piece of cake, I thought.
Touch screen log in process with 30 minutes wait. A few minutes later a young girl stood by the exam room door expecting to get back in line after missing her chance earlier when she walked away.
In a nice way, she was told to log in again and book a new appointment.

Ahhh... my name was called and the usual ID and insurance came out along with 30+ questions. No, no dental work in the last 6 weeks, no alcohol, no smoking, I no longer take the 9 medicines listed on my profile!
Elevated blood pressure (no surprise) no fever (good thing) no strep throat (another good thing) but the nose swab showed I have the flu.

The prescriptions had 4 medicines along with explanations and It was electronically sent to my pharmacy across the street. The process was quick and I was back to work alone in my office as everyone else bailed out... sick!

Plan change on Saturday and I didn't go to Miami, instead I checked an installer working on a kitchen to make up for him taking a day off during the week.

Back to the condo for intermittent sleep for the rest of the day. The throat pain and earaches have subsided enough on Sunday morning and I was 'well enough' to mow the lawn Sunday afternoon.

Funny story regarding people who are throwing bids for my house nearly half the asking price. The realtor has to respond to every request... even if it's unqualified.
I told the realtor to tell them your client is nearly deaf and unable to hear numbers that low!

Today I walked for the first time since May 16th. of last year. 5 feet the first time and 10 feet, turn around and walked back the second time. Progress in the making !!!

...now ain't THAT special? The POTUS bans all incoming Chinese and others from the now 15,000 active cases/300 Wuhan virus deaths workers' paradise. Our own people might get back in with intense surveillance, and quarantine, as needed. Epidemiology 101, folks. Not rocket science. And the one party state high leadership call this somehow unfair. WTF! The same folks who ban lots of internet. Bathed the cobblestones on Tienanmen Square with young democracy blood. And just two decades ago, kept it's own physicians from letting the world prepare for SARS for almost a whole TWO F-CKING MONTHS. If the West ever fights these people, Goddess forbid, be prepared for war atrocities that will make Me Lai for the US, Stalingrad for the Nazis, and Nanking for Imperial Japan---and others---look like cake walks. The Han. Prayers for democracy in the PRC, which has some potential for getting them back on track with the world.

Steve Jobs Died a billionaire ( $10.2b ) at age 56. This is his final essay:

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In some others' eyes, my life is the epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, my wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to. At this moment, lying on my bed and recalling my life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in have paled and become meaningless in the face of my death.

You can employ someone to drive the car for you or make money for you but you cannot have someone bear your sickness for you. Material things lost can be found or replaced. But there is one thing that can never be found when it's lost - Life. Whichever stage in life you are in right now, with time, you will face the day when the curtain comes down.

Treasure love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well and cherish others. As we grow older, and hopefully wiser, we realize that a $300 or a $30 watch both tell the same time. You will realize that your true inner happiness does not come from the material things of this world. Whether you fly first class or economy, if the plane goes down - you go down with it.

Therefore, I hope you realize, when you have mates, buddies and old friends, brothers and sisters, who you chat with, laugh with, talk with, have sing songs with, talk about north-south-east-west or heaven and earth, that is true happiness! Don't educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy. So when they grow up they will know the value of things and not the price. Eat your food as your medicine, otherwise you have to eat medicine as your food.

There is a big difference between a human being and being human. Only a few really understand it. You are loved when you are born. You will be loved when you die. In between, you have to manage!

The six best doctors in the world are sunlight, rest, exercise, diet, self-confidence and friends. Maintain them in all stages and enjoy a healthy life.”

---our brilliant and dazzling president Trump hasn't done enough for the American people, as promised, already. How about the new policy he enacted on allowing folks easier access to hospital prices, so more shopping and comparing can be done?

Brit Psychiatrists claim. AS IF, the state of the world today isn't already enough. Of course, consider which group is saying this. The hairdressers of western medicine. Same folks who supported lobotomies, the schizophrenogenic mother, autism in almost every home, same with multiple personality disorders, several hundred different mental disorders---with drugs for most, Bedlam care, the legitimacy of psychoANALytic treatments, and lots more questionable claims, including how normally homosexuals choose to live. The greater number of "legitimized" "illnesses", the more billable clinic hours, no? In my experience, only a small number of caring, well experienced, willing to listen---and try to understand their charges' struggles and needs, ---and humble psychiatric medical doctors and nurses are really helpful, far fewer than those who earn quite well.

On my doctor's recommendation, I got a flu shot two weeks ago. The injection was nearly painless. The next day, my arm hurt a little at the site of the shot. On the second day, I awoke and my arm was laying on the floor. I had to duct tape it into place. I felt yucky for a few days after.
Officially, I'm over it, or I thought I was and tonight I reached for something across (right to left) and still have some tenderness.
I'm thinking that maybe I should remove the duct tape...

...sure, lots of factors involved in these rates, especially when long standing trends are broken by stark differences over time. It seems that among blacks, in the USA, such rates have climbed to almost twice the rates for other ethnic groups. Allegedly, these data were much closer in value, even in the days of bondage. Supposedly, the usual suspects,--- poverty, education, class, etc. have little to do with all this, all "controlled" for.. Researchers conclude that it's actually something about the experience of growing up here black, instead. Mind you, these results come, as almost all such social science study information, from university and other alt ueber liberal research shops, often using unblinded questionnaire data. Choosing of study hypotheses, obtaining funding, methodologies, interpretation and reporting results, and more---all often affected by political slants of the researchers.

...of course, "oldtimers" is the most common of these memory/behavior scourges.. Don't count on money grubbing Big Pharma for help any time soon. Their three expensive drugs, do very little for symptoms, except for side effects, let alone prevention. Of course, the TV and hot detail lady sales human persons and heavy biased adverts make these sound like God's answer to Alzheimers, and other dementias. But, as with much of modern medicine, there is evidence that non-drug/non-surgery life style changes can help considerably with both of the above. Diet, exercise, social contact, lots of good water, various brain use strategies---and even a little wine daily, seem to increase the brain fluid flushout, and decrease the scavenger cell overgrowth, leading to inflammatory brain processes, that now seem a large cause. Tau and beta amyloid proteins, schmoteins. Same with genetics, except for a small number of cases. Most striking is the novel jogging and intense enjoyment of personal early community and family memories (photos, visits, movies, TV shows, furniture, vacations, etc.). Hasn't been studied or reported much, but I'm waiting with great hope for research reporting the importance of frequent hot kinky sex later in life, as the main preventive strategery.